This is a candle cage and rushlight. They were used in bedrooms, nurseries and sick rooms, where it was placed on the floor when lit. This particular candle cage came from Adderbury in Oxfordshire, where it was last used in the nursery of a baby who later lived for 80 years and died in the 1920s.

Physical description

1 Cage (candle): iron

Archival history

MERL miscellaneous note - 'There is a reference to this type of rushlight cage in the Pickwick Papers Chapter 22. There is also an illustration by 'Phiz' which shows it.'